News
Canada

Horror house neighbours taken aback

London police inspector Kevin Heslop and Children's Aid Society executive director Jane Fitzgerald speak about the rescue of a 10-year-old boy held captive for 18-24 months in London, Ont. on Friday May 30, 2014. (DEREK RUTTAN, The London Free Press)

LONDON, Ont. -- The neighbourhood teems with kids and strollers and families gathered around barbecues. But one solitary child was just a witness to the fun, gazing down from an upstairs window.

He waved and seemed to smile. That's how it looked at the time.

But nothing looks the same now in the neighbourhood in the city's southeast, where authorities believe a 10-year-old boy was confined for up to two years in a bedroom and found in filthy conditions, his pyjamas and bedding soaked in urine, before being taken into the care of a children's aid society.

Across the street, a young woman smiled at her toddler, then looked back at the house.

"How many times did I walk buy the house? Was the kid looking out the window looking for help? It breaks my heart," she said.

Under Ontario's child-welfare law, the boy's address and other identifying information cannot be published.

Friday, as the story spread nationwide, neighbours were taken aback.

They said the family moved in five years ago but had done little to interact with others or keep up the house: High weeds cover the front yard and a sink abandoned in the back yard by a previous owner is still in the same spot.

The entryway is neat and framed photos line the wall along the stairway that leads to the second floor.

But in the back, the kitchen is almost knee-deep with half-filled food containers, dirty dishes and grocery-sized garbage bags.

The couple that lived there ran a variety store, then another, the latter closing a year or two ago, say neighbours who saw them working.

When leaving or returning home, the husband would say hi if he drove past. But other than that, the family was mostly invisible.

But while neighbours were annoyed by the yard and distant from the family, no one suspected anything untoward.